The story is exactly what many parents are confronting with, nowadays. Many things to deal with after losing not only his soulmate but also the mother of their children. This applies in the cases when the parents divorce, too.
I see the biggest challenge is for Derek who needs to be both a mother and a father for his children. And I like that.
I also like the fact that it's very easy to be read, not an eccentric way of writing or too many characters making you lose the essence of the story.
English is not my native language but I understood the story really well, I even stopped to make some hot chocolate for myself too after Derek made one for her daughter, Sophie.
I'm curious to see how things will keep going and how the realationship between children and father will evolve.
Congratulations! :)
Thank you so much, @gabrielatravels. You really seem to have understood the heart of this story so well, and I'm grateful for that. After writing about Derek and his situation for quite a while, I've gotten to "know" him and empathise with him, just as I do with real people who are in these circumstances... I look forward to writing the next instalment of his story.